As I read through Cathy's forwarded messages from various school sources on
the internet, I wondered if Cathy and others might share their expertise
with those us who are less knowledgeable. I appreciate the postings from
Cathy and others that help us in the classroom and at home. Might I impose
upon you all further to answer some questions that will help me get our
school up and running?

1. From my address, you might be aware that I use a commercial ISP. I know
there is a "branch" of the internet, a domain name for K-12 schools, I have
been advised against using the one available to us here in Arizona because
of its unreliability and the government's lack of support (read: cut
funding soon :-). My question is, is there another alternative? It seems to
me that there is another "branch" of the internet that ends in .org, my
understanding is that this is for governmental agencies, does a school fit
into this? Or is this whole set of questions irrelevant because I'm simply
talking about a domain name and I'd still have to find an ISP to carry the
school's account?

2. I'm considering mounting a homepage for the school on AOL. Has anyone
done this? What are your feelings about it? Are there any schools that have
already done this so I might take a look at the results?

I, too am self-taught as many of you are (I don't think you can count the
computer training I had in college, we ran our programs on cards! Whole
stacks of them! smile). I appreciate your input.

>1. From my address, you might be aware that I use a commercial ISP. I know
there is a "branch" of the internet, a domain name for K-12 schools, I have
been advised against using the one available to us here in Arizona because
of its unreliability and the government's lack of support (read: cut
funding soon :-). My question is, is there another alternative? It seems to
me that there is another "branch" of the internet that ends in .org, my
understanding is that this is for governmental agencies, does a school fit
into this? Or is this whole set of questions irrelevant because I'm simply
talking about a domain name and I'd still have to find an ISP to carry the
school's account?
>

These 'branches' are called domains, and are based on the history and evolution
of the Internet. Anyone can apply for a domain name through the InterNIC,
the body which assigns Internet addresses and domains. Whether you get the
domain and/or the addresses you request is another matter, as there have
been many before you who may have already claimed them. Your ISP, and your
school system have had to do this. Once they are assigned, their presence is
replicated across the Internet through a facility called the Domain Name
Service (DNS). This service lets anyone who has access to a DNS server (if
you have Internet access, you most likely do) look up your domain and your
address.

The domain suffixes are related to the orginization type and the
aforementioned history:

.com Commercial businesses

.edu Educational institutions

.gov Government agencies

.mil Military organizations

.net Internet providers

.org Organizations that don't fit well into one of the above catagories

If you are looking to put your school on the Internet, use an .edu domain. If
your existing .k12.edu domain is unreliable, there's nothing stopping your from
choosing an ISP and having them host your own .edu domain for your school. The
InterNIC cost is $100 for two years, plus whatever the ISP wants for bookeeping
fees, if any.

I would stay away from online services like AOL or Compuserve for a
permanent home as their domain doesn't fit your needs, nor does their
service. It's a place to start, but plan on moving on to a better home after
you get your first Internet presence up.

The country codes are also part of the domain structure. Most domains within
the USA don't use the .us domain country code. Again, history. It's not
uncommon for state governments to use them, though, to delineate themselves
from .gov domains which are primarily owned by the Federal government. And
that, my friends, is some history that goes back waaaaay before the Internet
was concieved 8^).

It's very common for domains in countries other than the USA to have their
country code attached.

Thanks to Christopher DeHahn (did I spell your name correctly?) for the
information about the internet. Point of clarification, from what you said
does this mean I request to register a domain name from InterNIC and then I
can contact any ISP to carry it? I'm wondering how cost effective this is?
I understand in the long run, it is a better way to set up the system for
the school, but it seems this is something that has to have a budget larger
than $200 (which is the budget I am working with now). We're a pretty small
school, K-3 only.

Thanks very much for your help, it is greatly appreciated!
Have a good day,
Cindy

Any decent ISP worth hanging your school off of can and will register your
domain name for you. Please note that the $100/2 years is only for domain
name registration and maintenance. Internet access, home page hosting, etc.
is not included.

Yes, the school would have to make some connection with an ISP and hook
into the internet. The suffix at the end of an internest listing is
merely the protocol for internet to help identify the subscriber. .org is
for organizations; .edu is usually for educational institutions; .com is
for companies; .gov is for government; .mil is for the military, etc. (At
least here in the U.S.)

One method which often works with schools is to hook through a local
college or university. usually a grant can be obtained by a professor
from the university with the school. Another way is go to a company that
is public like ATT which now is an ISP. ATT may (I have no vested
interest in them) hook a school to the net. Or go to Microsoft. They may
be willing to get the school on the net with their own comercial software
in order to get the kids "hooked" on the net via microsoft so the parents
will want to purchase the microsoft programs and internet connection at
home.